Being a Busy Bee

My Friday project is the Busy Bee Sampler. I think it's going to work up quite quickly (even for me) as it's only about 8 inches long and just over 2 inches wide. I love the delicate leaves and twining tendrils of the floral band. This is as far as I've gotten in one Friday.


Saturday's project is A Mother's Heart, which I'm stitching for the second time this calendar year. The first time is intended for my mum for Mother's Day (in May in Canada, as opposed to March for the UK and Ireland), and this second one is for my mother-in-law for her birthday, also in May. I'm not going to post any photos of either of them just yet, as I'm keen for it to be a total surprise on the day for them both. The heart outer band though is nearly complete, and I'll probably move some of my regular projects to the backburner in the coming weeks so that I make sure to finish this second one in time for my mum-in-law's birthday. So I'll post some photos later on this Spring.


Sunday is Paradigm Lost. I love this one! It's so huge though it's going to take me months, especially on my current rotation system. It's a wonderful design though. I've decided to use 32-count Lambswool linen, and overdyed Crescent Colours threads - I've gone for a rich green colour called 'Bejeweled'. I ordered just a single skein to see whether I liked the colour (seeing it on the Internet is never quite the same, and I don't have a needlework shop near me, at least not one that stocks anything more than a few skeins of DMC and Anchor stranded cotton - certainly nothing out of the ordinary), so I'm in the process of trying to get more - the online shop I bought the original skein from had only a couple of skeins left, and this project is going to take in excess of 30. So I got up really early on Sunday morning to watch Canada in the world curling finals (which they won - hurrah!) and stitched away on this one. I managed to used up all the thread I have, so I guess this project will be well and truly stalled until more thread arrives.

I'm really looking forward to going back to BC for our holiday in April/May. I miss the obvious things like seeing my friends and family, and being there to celebrate and commiserate with them, but it's often the intangible things I miss - the air of excitement during the NHL play-offs (when the Canucks are still in them anyway!), swimming in the river, hiking up a mountain, or the smell of the earth after a thunder storm. I even miss driving for an hour to get to anything like a big town, and not feeling worried about walking outside past a group of rowdy 15-year-olds at night. And of course there are the tangible things - peach cider and Crispy Crunch bars for example! England is just so very different. Good, but different.